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There is also the thickness of the rig. Some manufacturers put in smaller width backpads but increase the thickness of the rigs. Makes for extremelly uncomfortable rigs when packed tightly (brick on your back) and also less room in the plane... Wierd, eh? "Smaller" rig = less room on the plane... Pick a size of rig that fits the canopies you want either in a "soft" or "normal" fit. "Tight" is "possible, but then you're sacrificing both comfort, and more importantly - safety. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I'm surprised more people don't buy a Racer 2k3 Shadow (all black rig, no options, extremely well-priced) over the Dolphin as well... CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Here's my opinion: http://bard.ca/should-i-get-a-skyhook/ CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Read the manual - here it is: http://www.jumpshack.com/download/RacerOwnersManualOctober2003.pdf Page 30, step C It's the excess line from the quick loop that's come out of the pilot chute valance. Takes 15 seconds to put it back in. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

+1 from here too. Am I the only one that sees what's going on here? - Stiffened side flaps + a large pilot chute cap (it's sides within an inch of the sidewalls and main/reserve dividing wall) means that the pilot chute top cap is pushing with it's edges against the furthest end of the opening (the hinge side of the flap). It's the same thing as trying to push a door open by it's hinge side - it requires a lot of force. The pilot chute slowly pushes the "hinge" sides until the top cap "hits" the stiffeners, and there you have it - Total Malfunction. This is a design problem on almost all small-sized rigs with fully concealed reserve pilot chutes that are available today. I can think of 3 solutions to this problem: 1. A smaller pilot chute cap (would punch the center instead of the hinge side of the flaps) 2. Less stiffening of the flaps, and (dare I say the next one?) 3. An externally mounted pilot chute CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I used to have that exact combo: V306 with a OP126. You can close it, but it's tight as hell. If you like jumping with a brick on your back, go ahead and do it. If you like a comfortable rig on your back, don't. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Get your reserve in white fabric... CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Nice. Clears things up a bit. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I made my eel a few years ago with the intent of going to Burning Man. I still haven't made it there. My eel is 5'x60' long, made of .7oz Kite Fabric and was made with some info from Bryan Burke. I have enough fabric to make a second one, but I haven't yet. It's a big project, especially with the color fade on mine. Lots of sewing. I tend to put the top karabiner on the middle of my collapsed slider to distribute the drag evenly to all 4 risers. Loose shoelaces on my rightfoot, and I made a chest-mount container that is about 6"x8" by 3" thick. I've done about 10 jumps with mine, including DEMO jumps into some tight areas. It is a crowd pleaser. People talk about it specifically for months after. It is what they remember - it has way more visual impact than a regular skydiver. The other DEMO jumpers (some with 30 years of DEMO experience) love it and want one too! I jump it with a Lotus 120 at about a 1.4 wingloading, and have no issues with the drag it produces or flaring my canopy. If you need any other info, let me know... CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

In late 2010, I decided to purchase my own personal Tandem rig. Having put 60 jumps on my new Racer 2K3 Tandem System this past summer, I can confidently say that I made the right choice. It has been difficult for me to verbally explain to others just how impressed I am with this Tandem Rig, and this is why I am writing this article Here are the main reasons why I choose to jump a Racer 2K3 Tandem System: 1. Comfort/Fit 2. Weight 3. Intelligent harness/container design a. Safe Harness b. Smart Rig design, especially the drogue attachment c. Balanced Freefall position 4. Positive extraction of main bag at drogue release 5. Tandem Video made easy a. Balanced Freefall position b. The “right” amount of drag for tandem video 6. Easy to pack 7. Price ABOUT ME I am a small Tandem Instructor. I’m 5’7” and a slim 140lbs. I am a weekend warrior jumper, with a full-time job. I jump in Canada in the summer months at Gatineau Ottawa Skydive (GO Skydive). I have been in the sport for 10 years, and hold the following CSPA ratings: CSPA D-1046, Coach 2, GCI, JM, SSI, SSE, EJR, Rigger A COMFORT/FIT My Racer 2K3 Tandem was custom-made to fit me. It is not one-size-fits-none, like other DZ tandem rigs made for varying sizes of Tandem Instructors. The Racer fits me well, especially around the shoulders, as the yoke is made to fit me, so I feel contained and comfortably cocooned in the harness and container, not loose and falling out like on a Sigma. The harness is made from one continuous piece of webbing that goes around and around with no extra hardware such as hip rings, chest rings and main lift web adjusters. WEIGHT Put that Sigma rig on the scale, what do you get? I get an average of 55 lbs with my home DZ’s rigs with various reserves and 330 sized mains. My Racer 2K3 Tandem rig (with a 350 main) weighs in at lofty 38 lbs. That is a 13 lb difference, over 30% lighter! It feels like having a student rig on my back, not a heavy Tandem Rig… These two first factors, weight and comfort/fit are beneficial on a busy day. INTELLIGENT HARNESS/CONTAINER DESIGN It has a Racer harness, the same one as the sport rigs. This contributes to both the comfort/fit and the weight savings. The passenger harness is quite comfortable as well, and I only adjust it once. It does not move or loosen in the plane, so there are no last minute harness adjustments, only a quick verification. It also has double tuck-tab riser protection with magnetic riser covers, and total reserve pin protection with the reserve pins being against the Instructor’s back and not exposed on the outside of the rig, but what I really want to talk about the drogue attachment point: Some older tandem systems hung the drogue at the bottom of the container, and this made for a head-low body position during freefall. The Sigma moved the attachment point up to the middle of the main container, making the freefall position a little better, but still in a slightly head-low body position. On the Racer 2K3 Tandem, the drogue is attached in between the main and reserve container, in the middle of the Instructors’ back, making for a perfectly balanced and horizontal freefall position. It is attached using a drogue-riser (an inverted T-bridle) that goes all the way through the container, in the space between the packed main and reserve, and becomes the lower attachment points for the student’s harness. This has 2 main advantages, the first is obvious the first time you jump the system: as soon as the drogue is tossed, the student is pulled into you as the drogue is directly attached to the student’s harness. The second advantage is that there is no stress on the container due to the force of the drogue. On a Sigma, all the load and stress of the drogue is passed through the container’s flaps and sidewalls, and ends up pulling the tandem rig off the Instructors’ back. If you look at a Sigma, you'll notice the deformation both in the air and the resulting stress to the fabric once back on the ground. The drogue bridle is made of webbing, not Kevlar, which makes it easy to cut with a hook knife. Finally, it has double main container protection. A secondary main container pin keeps the main container closed until the drogue is released. As I was taught in my TI course: No drogue=no main. This prevents an out of sequence main deployment. POSITIVE EXTRACTION OF MAIN BAG AT DROGUE RELEASE TIME As a student of parachute design and as a certified Rigger, I’ve learned that a staged deployment of the main canopy is the safest way to deploy a parachute. All sport rigs do it this way, so why don’t all Tandem rigs? The Racer 2K3 Tandem has an ice-cream shaped drogue, which was modeled after a round parachute, and has very little oscillation compared to some other designs. It also has a measured drag of 90 lbs. At pull-time, this 90 lbs of force becomes the system’s pilot chute and pulls the main bag out of the container and gets the main parachute to full line-stretch. This makes for positive extraction of the main bag, just like a regular pilot chute on every other sport system on the market. A Sigma drogue seems to have significantly more drag than the Racer’s drogue. At first this may seem better, but in fact it isn’t, especially at pull time. The Sigma’s drogue is designed to collapse as the as soon as a drogue release handle is pulled. This design “feature” is marketed as making for a softer opening of the main parachute, but in reality, it is a band-aid to address problems with its drogue design: the drogue is too big for the main. I guess the Sigma’s drogue produces so much drag that it makes for some “spirited” openings without collapsing it first, and collapsing is required to save people’s necks and to prevent exploding main parachutes. The problem with this design feature is this: once collapsed, how much drag does that collapsed drogue produce? And secondly, is it enough drag? No one really knows, as it has not been measured…Keep in mind a bagged tandem main weighs about 15 lbs. What I do know is that after looking at hundreds of videos of Sigmas, the main bag is not positively extracted at pull time. The tandem pair falls through the “trap door” as they accelerate because the drogue has just collapsed, and the bag is lazily lifted off the instructors’ back, with the main parachute lines lazily zig-zagging from side to side, not “stretched” straight to line-stretch. It works most of the time. However, it also contributes to all kinds of possible scenarios: off-heading openings, linetwists and bag-locks (the heavy bag spinning around a tight line-stow due to insufficient drogue drag). To summarize, the Sigma has too much drag in freefall and too little drag at pull time… TANDEM VIDEO MADE EASY I have already talked about the balanced freefall position offered by the position of the drogue attachment point, where the freefall position of the tandem pair is horizontal; as opposed to other systems that put the tandem pair in a head-low position. This balanced freefall position makes the external cameraperson’s job easy, getting the paying customer’s face in the shot, as opposed to the top of their head... Secondly, the amount of drogue drag offered in freefall is just right. Being a light Instructor, if I take a sub-100 lb student, even heavy external camera people can keep “up” with me in freefall without the use of massive wings, because my freefall speed is a comfortable 115-120 Mph. EASY TO PACK The main bag is big enough for Tandem mains up to 400 sq ft. The main goes in the bag easily, and you pack it almost exactly like a sport rig, except for the drogue attachment. There is no “grunting” required to pack the system. Everything goes in just so, and without effort. PRICE Lastly, Price. Hey it’s my money, and this is what I bought. The price of a complete new system was approximately $3,500.00 less than a Sigma. I got all custom colors delivered in very little time. The people at Jump Shack are friendly and easy to deal with. And for the record, so are the people at UPT ;) PECULIARITIES First up: RSL. It has a dual-sided RSL, identical to the one on the Racer sport systems. It works, but the user needs to understand it: RTFM! It does not have a MARD system, nor do I think it needs it. Lastly, it incorporates a third drogue release, attached to the cutaway handle. This ensures the proper sequence of emergency procedures with a one-handle pull: it both releases the drogue (if it hasn’t been already) and cuts-away the main. The RSL then initiates the reserve deployment, although pulling silver is still highly recommended. CONCLUSION So there it is. I find there just isn’t much first-hand information out there on this system, and I hope this review can shed some light. I personally think it's somewhat of a hidden gem. I personally know several people that own one or more of these systems, and know of several dropzones in the US, Canada, and overseas that use this rig exclusively. The decision to buy one for myself only came after visiting all 3 major tandem rig manufacturing facilities in Florida in person, and having in-depth discussions with the designers of the various systems. This past winter, I just purchased a second Racer 2k3 Tandem rig so I can better serve my busy dropzone here in Ottawa, Canada on busy days with back-to-back loads. My name is Alain Bard, and I approve of this rig.

Thats's interesting (heel kick)... It's not part of our routine here, but I guess I'll have to try it. Our Navajos have a secondary "step" below the door lip, and some TMs have the pax put their feet on it, but I don't like it as it put the knees up in their chest... CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I have about 60 Tandems from our Navajo(s). Get the student to sit with legs in front before getting to the door. Get the student to slide on their bum towards the door, both legs dangling outside, bum on the very edge of the lip. I'm usually in a crouching position behind the student, as the door width doesn't accomodate two sets of legs + the student's bum. Roll out the door with an intentional left hip dip towards the earth to present sideways (head away from aircraft) into the relative wind. Don't catch your legs on the way out! Don't catch any part of the rig on the way out (which is why I tend to roll out) I'm 5'7" 140lbs, and this works for me most of the time. If the student doesn't tuck their legs right on exit, we sometimes end up flipping over on exit. We have a range of TIs that jump this aircraft from 130lb girl all the way up to 200+ lb TIs and they all love it compared to our other aircraft which is a cessna 182! To see a bunch of exits from the Navajo - see the new site and new promo video at www.goskydive.ca CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

For the record, the Racer Tandem system also has 2 pins to open the main (one releases at drogue toss, and the other at drogue release). So the Sigma is not the only system that prevents premature main openings (or out of sequence main deployment). You can't get the main out unless you've tossed the drogue first. No drogue = No main. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Wow. I don't know if i'm lucky or unlucky. 50 tandems total. All last season. I've had one full Pass out, one puker and one big O. I never even thought people could pass out... Happened 15 seconds after opening. I pass him the toggles as he says 'wow, i'm really starting to feel the rush...' And then he went limp and passes out for the entire canopy ride. Male, 20s, hungover, dehydrated on a hot day, and no breakfast. Recipe for disaster... Woke up literally on landing as the other TI on the ground yells at him to pick up his legs. And he does... Uneventful landing... Luckily. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I have my own brand new personal tandem rig on order from JumpShack right now. I jump in Ottawa, Canada. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Wow! that was great. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I have a SkySystems Vapour Narrow (video and stills for tandems ) and a Tonfly CC1 (video only) - for fun jumps. I really like the Tonfly, really nice, really lightweight. I'd buy a second Tonfly in a flash. Bonehead helmets do not fit me. period. I have a small head (not tiny), and I've tried ALOT of different types of Bonehead helmets, and none of them fit me. I really like the look of some of Bonehead's helmets, they just don't fit. Bottom line - make sure to try before you buy. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Too bad. Great canopy. I have a Samurai 120 and love it. Mine was made by PD in 2008 (one of the last ones I figure). CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

That's kind of a chicken and the egg thing for us Canadians. We have a population of over 2000 active skydivers that you could potentially tap into here in Canada, but not at that price. I know at my little DZ, almost everyone was subbed to Skydiving mag... I'm sure you can figure something out here, look around to see if you can change the delivery method for Canada, it would save both of us $$$ because at the current rate, I still can't justify paying 3 times as much to get it to Canada. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

Last year I had 4 out of 12 packjobs used (in our 6-month season in Canada). That's a 33% rate. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

As a long-time "Skydiving" subscriber, I was going to subscribe to Blue Skies, but then I saw the "World Standard" price, and uh-oh, no-oh. I live in Canada, less than 50 miles from the US border, and I have to pay almost three times as much? What gives? Funny that there is no premium for Hawaii and Alaska... To whoever is running this - please include a reasonable Canadian subscription price. Surely a $10 premium for a little extra postage is ok, but not a $35 premium... I guess I'll be checking this thing out in the US whenever I'm down there (once a year or so). CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I understand your point about the bad english, but if you are late on a vehicle payment, then you broke a contract. It's not your vehicle - it's the lender's. Not till you've paid every last cent. I bet these people that pay late have huge Credit Card debt too... Living on other people's money... CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

I'd like to take issue with point 1) Extremely rugged.... I've personally seen an experienced rigger bust an argus while trying to remove the control head from a tight-fitting container. No excessive force here - just cheap cables in an ill-conceived design. Both Cypress (1 and 2) and Argus have flimsy cables. They are not "Extremely Rugged". Only the Vigil 2 would be what I consider to be "Extremely Rugged". Just put a Cypress2, an Argus, and a Vigil2 beside one and other, and the difference is glaringly obvious - Vigil is much better built. Period. I've owned Cypress 1 and 2 (but not Argus), and when it came time to replace - I chose a Vigil2. $200 cheaper and 8 years more life - you do the math... My $.02 CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

The lines have an orange marker on them, which means they are really close to the strip. Putting out students with a landing area that close to power lines is just dumb. CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca

So I'm the person mentionned writing the manual. We're in Canada - and CSPA has 3 different methods approved for teaching EPs to students. This manual is a reference manual that students take home. From a liability perspective, I think I'm going to stick to what my country's parachuting association approves. I'd be curious as to what EP teaching methods are approved in other countries associations. I know France (and one of the 3 CSPA approved methods) has the one I'm considering including in the manual: Look Cutaway Reach Cutaway (2 hands) Look Reserve (Peel) Pull Cutaway (2 hands) Reach Reserve (2 hands) Pull Reserve Anyone from the US, Australia, or any other country can answer what's approved in their country? CSPA D-1046 TI Coach2 RiggerA JM SSI SSE GCI EJR Canadian 102-way record holder bard.ca